Station Hope

A Virtual Celebration of Hope. A Dialogue for Change.

May 01, 2021

5:00-9:00pm (ET)Note: Family-friendly programming until 7:00pm (ET). After 7:00pm (ET), performances may include adult content.Scroll down to watch the livestream.

FREE AND OPEN TO ALL
Livestreamed on CPT’s website, Facebook, and YouTube pages

Station Hope—this year, a virtual festival—is a jubilant community event celebrating Cleveland’s social justice history and exploring contemporary struggles for freedom and equity. Engage with local artists as they envision, interrogate, and seek out hope from where they are stationed. Audience members will participate virtually and witness livestreamed performances of theatre, music, storytelling, and dance inspired by the most important issues of our time.

WANT TO KNOW MORE BEFORE THE EVENT?

Share your email address with us by clicking the link below and you’ll receive behind-the-scenes information about the art and artists that make up Station Hope 2021. Note: CPT never shares email addresses—your email is safe with us!

Content Warning: CPT supports new play development, as well as social justice oriented-theatre. Sensitive material may be explored, and content continues to change as the art is developed. Because of the nature of new play development, we can’t provide additional content warnings for Station Hope.

The complete lineup of Station Hope 2021 artists

(List subject to change):

Click here for the order of performances

Alexander Wright & The Collective; Ananias J. Dixon, 2020/2021 CPT Premiere Fellow; Bodwin Theatre Company; Cleveland Classical Guitar Society; CPT’s Cleveland Act Now (CAN) Academy; CPT’s Cleveland Act Now (CAN) Theatre; CPT’s Student Theatre Enrichment Program (STEP); Dale Goode; Dayshawnda Ash; Djapo Cultural Arts Institute; Fostering Hope; Generation L.Y.G.H.T; Inda Blatch-Geib; Inlet Dance Theatre; Josy Jones; Kenya R. Woods; Kings & Queens of Art; Kulture Kids; Neo Dance featuring Nehemiah Spencer; Nina Domingue, 2020/2021 CPT Premiere Fellow; Oatman Films; Ohio City Theatre Project; Philip Metres; Restore Cleveland Hope, Inc.; Siaara Freeman, 2020/2021 CPT Premiere Fellow; Sound Body Culture (Sound Body Productions, LLC); Sugarbearblue Incorporated; Teatro Público de Cleveland; The Welcome Table; Toby Vera Bercovici, 2020/2021 CPT Premiere Fellow

download the Station Hope Program

Click here or on the image below.

station hope emcees

Pictured (from left): AdeOlomo, photo courtesy of AdeOlomo; Siaara Freeman, photo courtesy of Siaara Freeman.

AdeOlomo

Siaara Freeman

click here to learn more about the emcees

Activate Hope: Text to Give

CPT is proud to recognize Lake Erie Native American Council (LENAC), a Cleveland organization who has made social justice central to their mission as part of Station Hope 2021. LENAC calls us to defend our rights, end discrimination, and know our history. Please consider supporting with a financial contribution and help our community grow strong into the future.

text LENAC to 44-321

Click here to make a donation.

Station Hope Activity Book

Click here or on the image above to download the Station Hope family activity book for all ages, featuring historical and contemporary activities, created and designed by Inda Blatch-Geib, Dred Geib, and Chialla Geib-Fenske.

friday, april 30 | 6:45PM – 8:20Pm (ET)

Weren’t able to make Road to Hope pop-up livestream? Click here to watch!

Visit cptonline.org/stationhope , Facebook, and YouTube on Friday, April 30 to tune in to these special pop-up performances from Station Hope artists.

dale goode art exhibition | 6:45PM (ET)

{a tour of Dale’s Art created over his many years as a visual artist}
Visual Art by: Dale Goode

deep water to freedom | 6:50PM (ET)

{a movement-based work where water is the passenger on the journey of people from Africa, to capture, to enslavement, and finally to freedom}
Choreographed, Performed, & Written by: Kenya Woods | Filming & Editing by: Sage Woods-Cooper | Co-Writer & Consultant: Desmond Davis

Action is Hope : A panel discussion | 7:00PM – 8:15PM (ET)

{see below for details}

my skin | 8:15PM (ET)

{explores how the statement “I don’t see color” impacts Black people using poetry, dance, music, and photos from the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter Movement}
Written, Directed, Designed, & Performed by: DayShawnda Ash | Performed by: Arcale Peace, Chantrell Lewis, Montria Walker, Ron’Dale Simpson, Jailyn Harris, Tina D. Stump, Nate Summers

Action is Hope: A Panel Discussion

Pictured (from left): Danielle Sydnor, photo by Kamron Khan; Francisca Da Silveira, photo by Alex Portenko; Makayla Mattocks, photo by LRya Photography; MyRon P. Edmonds, DMin, photo by Gianna Snell.

Local leaders who have changed their community through activism in different ways speak about their process and what called them to activism. Action is Hope: a panel discussion is a call to action and a sharing of ideas to move us all toward action within our communities.

Francisca Da Silveira
Playwright, Dramaturg, & Assistant Literary Director at Geva Theatre Center

Danielle Sydnor
President of the Greater Cleveland Branch of the NAACP

Makayla Mattocks
Poet, Writer, & Black Mental Health advocate

Moderator: Dr. MyRon Edmonds, DMins,
Pastor of Grace Community SDA Church, Community Activist

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PANELISTS & Moderator.

: Station Hope 2020. Beauty for Ashes

: Station Hope 2020. Lake Erie Native American Council

: Station Hope 2020. Beauty in Strength

SEE THE PHOTO GALLERY FROM STATION HOPE 2019

Watch the 2017 Station Hope Video

STATION HOPE

One night a year, 250 artists from across Northeast Ohio inhabit historic St. John’s Episcopal Church—Cleveland’s first authenticated Underground Railroad site and a beacon of freedom symbolizing the city’s social justice heritage. Station Hope addresses many of the most important issues of our time and celebrates hope through powerful theatre, spoken word, dance, music, and multimedia performances inspired by contemporary issues of freedom and justice. Audiences are invited to explore the historic buildings and surrounding grounds while visual art installations, choir performances, and other interactive activities set the atmosphere around the church.

Every year, over 2,000 people attend Station Hope, which features art and performance staged in and around St. John’s Episcopal Church. Station Hope 2021 will feature both new and returning artists, tackling such contemporary topics as immigration, education, police brutality, human trafficking, gun violence, income inequality, racism, and gender discrimination—alongside historically-based original works that celebrate the people and stories comprising Northeast Ohio’s Underground Railroad History.

Arts & Community

Residents of the nearby public housing estate at Lakeview Terrace join long-time and new residents of the Ohio City neighborhood, along with real-estate developers, arts lovers, business owners, and politicians, to make up a highly economically diverse crowd.

About St. John’s

St. John’s Episcopal Church is located at 2600 Church Avenue in the Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland—known as “Station Hope” on the Underground Railroad. The oldest consecrated building in Cuyahoga County, St. John’s was the last stop for freedom seekers before crossing the waters of Lake Erie, and its steeple acted as a beacon of freedom.

Partners

Station Hope 2021 is presented in partnership with The Episcopal Diocese of Ohio & The Institute at St. John’s, Ward 3 Councilman Kerry McCormack, Ohio City Incorporated, and Restore Cleveland Hope, Inc. & the Cozad-Bates House, with over 30 participating arts groups and 150 individual artists from the Northeast Ohio region.